Fate Bites
by N3k0
Summary: My name is Auriana. The sailors tell me I'm a wood elf. I seem to have forgotten just about everything else. ((Sequel to the still unfinished story Nobody Important. Read and Review!))
1. Chapter 1

16 / LS / 4E 201

Or, that's what they tell me the date is, anyway.

Amnesia, they call it, a disorder of the mind, where the afflicted person forgets everything they once knew.

I do remember a name, though.

Auriana.

I woke on an island without a single scrap of clothing on me. I owned nothing that could identify me better than that name; I guess I'll use it for my own.

The sailors were incredibly kind when they found me. They dressed me in warm furs, gave me food and drink, and asked nothing in return. To be fair, I had nothing I could give them for their favor.

Their healer suggested that if I write down the present, perhaps it would cause me to remember my past. I don't know if that will work, but it can't hurt to try, right? Anyway, that's what this diary is for, to help me remember what's happened thus far, and to maybe bring back my memory of the past.

Two days, it took, for the ship to reach its destination, and we barely limped into the harbor with the blizzard that came down on us.

The captain gave me a small pouch of gold. I was to use it to rent a room for the night, and then the next morning, he said, I could start looking for work. It shouldn't be hard to find something to do in a mining town, or that was his reasoning anyway.

So I went to the inn, paid for my bed, and now I'm writing this by candlelight.

It's getting hard to keep my eyes open, though.

Good night, diary.


	2. Chapter 2

17 / LS / 4E 201

Today was interesting.

It started when I woke up from some terrible dream I couldn't remember clearly - only to hear the locals talking about the terrible dreams _they've_ been having.

It's apparently a plague that's going around Dawnstar - nightmares for everybody.

A part of me knows it's wrong, but if there's things lying around unattended, I have a tendency to want them. So while I was listening to the people talking about how the nightmares are unnatural and evil, I was also poking around the inn, admiring - and taking - the things that nobody would miss.

The priest was a Dunmer who follows the teachings of Mara.

Mara - she's a love goddess.

I don't know how I know that, but the information is just - there.

I hate not knowing things.

So I go to talk to the priest - Erandur, it turns out his name is. He convinces me to come with him to help save the people of Dawnstar. Frankly, I could care less about the people of Dawnstar. No, what interests me is coin - the loot from this abandoned ruin might be promising to sell - and not having more nightmares. Having experienced one that I can remember, I can already tell you I'm not a fan.

So he usheres me up to the temple, and I get the eerie feeling that I'm about to be sacrificed to appease some dark entity.

That isn't what happens, though. Instead, it turns out that he used to be a priest of Vaermina, the Daedric Lord of Dreams. And, apparently, nightmares. Her artifact, the skull of corruption, is what lay inside this temple, and that's why everybody's having nightmares now.

I can get behind the idea of destroying such an artifact for peace of mind, anyway.

The priest led me down into the heart of the 'temple,' only it was blocked off by a barrier of some kind.

So he needed to research a way to get past it, and we found some books in the library. Well, I found the books. He was pretty useless there, and then later in the laboratory he was still useless.

I'm glad I killed him.

But we'll get to that in a moment.

So he made me drink a potion, which let me walk through his memories to the other side of the barrier. Then, it was as simple as removing the soul gem that powered it, to take down the barrier. So we proceeded down the stairs and through the insides of the temple, until we came to the Skull.

He began to take down the protective wards around the Skull when a voice spoke to me.

She whispered to me, and me alone. She told me that he'd turn on me, once the skull was free. Not that I believed her; I had no reason to believe her over him. But I also didn't think pissing off a god was a great idea. Especially one who'd proven she could get inside my head.

So he started the ritual and I snapped his neck.

She was pleased, she told me so. She also said that she'd known my mother, once upon a time - though she didn't respond when I asked her who my mother was. For that matter, who _I_ was.

Now I own a skull on a stick, which apparently feasts on the dreams of sleeping people.

I got back to town fairly late, so when I made it to the inn, I slipped into the back room and pointed the staff at the guy sleeping there.

The staff's eyesockets filled with an eerie red glow for a moment, and I felt a rush of - pleasure, I guess.

It still feels good, half an hour later.

Somehow I don't think it'll cause me any more bad dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

18 / LS / 4E 201

I ran. I'm not ashamed to admit it, who wouldn't?

So I don't know where the dragon went, and frankly that scares me.

But I ran.

And ran.

Let me back up a moment, to explain. I decided it would be best to leave Dawnstar before they figured out that their triumphant hero wasn't so much of a hero. I'd already had a couple of people ask me what happened to the priest.

So I swear I made it maybe three feet out of Dawnstar when I heard the roar.

Overhead, a dragon - a **_dragon!_** \- soared.

I panicked. Wouldn't you, in my shoes? I barely even have a weapon - the staff counts, sort of, though only because it can channel the power of the dreams it's eaten - and I'm not the stuff of legends.

I'm a tiny little wood elf, you know? I'm pretty sure I know how to shoot a bow, but I don't actually have a bow to shoot.

Thank you, Vaermina, for the staff. It's lovely. Can I trade it out for a bow instead?

No, but seriously. I'm not giving this thing up for anything; it's far too valuable. One of a kind. You don't just pawn the artifact of a Daedric Prince, even if you're starving in the streets, which I'm not, because like I said before, if I want something, I usually just find a way to take it.

But you especially don't do that to a Daedra who's apparently intimately familiar with your family.

Still pissed she wouldn't tell me who my mother was.

Oh, on the road I met this dog. Fed him a bit of food, he led me back to his house. Dead guy inside - his journal says the dog's name is Meeko, and the dog confirmed that while I fed him. After that, I did my best to comb out his matted fur, at least. I think the breed is called a husky - white and gray fur, like, and really thick fur to ward off the cold.

Anyway, I ran along the road, following it until I found a little tavern in the middle of nowhere. I paid them a little of the gold I'd found in the last inn I visited, and bedded down for the night. Meeko's laying at my feet in the bed.

And now I'm writing this entry.

I worry though. I didn't let the staff eat any dreams today. Will it take mine?

There's a disturbing thought.


	4. Chapter 4

19 / LS / 4E 201

Today was actually not bad at all!

I did have uneasy dreams last night, but I can live with that. I'll just feed the staff the next chance I can.

Anyway, so Meeko and I followed the road as far as it goes, and in this case, as far as it goes is a place called Solitude, which is apparently the capitol of Skyrim

There was some kind of commotion at the front gate as we entered, but we made a point of avoiding that nonsense. It was cold and wet and raining - exactly the kind of weather I don't like. I was honestly afraid I was going to freeze to death; I was soaked through and the wind was cutting through my furs.

I went around Solitude for most of the day, helping people do this and that. They paid me for it, and let me into their homes and shops as well. I even got access to most of the Blue Palace! It was great!

My pockets ended up brimming with all kinds of new and exciting things. The court wizard had a bunch of strange things for me to nibble on, and a couple of soul gems too.

By the end of the day I had a bunch of stuff to sell.

I have a way of talking to people, I guess.

See, I don't think of it as 'stealing.'

If they wanted it that bad, they'd have kept a closer eye on it, right? I obviously wanted it more, to look after it so closely. I know other people might disagree, which is why I keep out of sight when I do it. When I told the woman at Bits and Pieces that honestly, nothing I brought her was stolen, she kind of gave me a strange look, but she paid me a shiny Septim for my loot.

I outfitted myself properly, in clothes that have a bunch of pockets and pouches, and a nice backpack as well.

Wanna make sure I can carry everything I find, after all!

I also bought a nice bow with a fire enchantment so the arrows I fire will burn anything they hit.

When it got dark, a pair of strange men attacked the front gates. I thought it was just some weirdly dressed bandits, at first, but then they killed the guards and turned on me.

And that's when I found out that they wouldn't stay dead. The burning enchantment seared their flesh, but after they died, they got back up again.

And again.

After the second time, I figured out what they were: Vampires. The fangs and the biting might have had something to do with that - not that I let them get close enough to bite me, of course, but one of them killed one of the guards by ripping the guard's helmet off and then tearing the man's throat out with his teeth.

When I put them down the third time, one young looking priestess came running with a couple of braids of garlic and a woodcutter's axe. Apparently the scent of garlic is so strong it can temporarily stun vampires or some such thing, since they didn't get up after she stuffed their mouths with garlic cloves. That gave one of the guards time to take the axe and cut the vampires' heads off.

After that, the bodies self-immolated, pretty much.

So that was entertaining and really dumb, all in one.

I promised to look into an old spooky cave, so I'm gonna do that tomorrow.

For tonight, Meeko and I are going to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

20 / LS / 4E 201

Naked people are inherently funny, even - maybe especially - when they start attacking you.

Although they're perhaps a bit less funny when they're (un)dead.

That part is a bit of a problem, yeah.

So Wolfskull Cave, as the spooky cavern of doom is called, was home to an old Draugr ruin. Draugr, they're old nordic zombies, like. So I go in, kill skeletons, and zombies, and then I start running across necromancers.

Turns out they were trying to summon some lady named Potema from the afterlife.

The steward called her the Wolf Queen. I dunno.

Anyway, Meeko and I took the lot of them out, and I even learned a bit about raising my own zombies. It's really hard to cast with a bow in your hands (I took a bow from Castle Dour) but really, an arrow between their eyes and you don't need to do magic on them.

Sure, it's not perfect, but it's fun, and you have to admit, turning dead people on their friends is a bit amusing, too. I got hungry down in the cave, didn't have any supplies - it turns out people are good eating, too, although once they're raised from the dead the meat gets all dessicated and crumbles to ash. So those people who've been brought back to unlife taste pretty awful, actually. But the ritual master at least didn't have anyone to raise her, so I cut her up and Meeko and I had a nice little meal.

Something tells me that's another one of those things most people aren't going to like if they find out.

People are so squeamish.

Another vampire attacked today. They're getting to be a real problem, and this orc fellow who helped with the killing suggested I might like to join something called a Dawnguard.

Honestly, I don't really care about vampires one way or another, but they're an interesting challenge.

I told him it sounded like fun, and he said some guy named Isran was going to like me. Sometime soonish, I'm supposed to head to an old ruin near Riften to talk to this, "Isran."

Why not, you know?

But later. Tomorrow, the next day, who knows.

I've got enough money I can buy a horse - there's no way I want to travel that whole distance on foot! I've seen the maps - Dawnstar to Solitude took me two days, which means it'll probably be four days on foot, given no dragon-like interruptions, before I can even consider making Riften.

Oh, in other news, the business of taking people's stuff and selling it to other people is still going well. I'm getting really good at taking the things I want unseen - even jewelry people are actually wearing isn't too much of a challenge if you do it right.

I've been stuffing my backpack full and then some with all this coin. I'm going to need to find a place to store all my loot, at this rate!

Anyway. To sleep.

Still haven't gotten a chance to feed the staff. The dreams are getting worse.


End file.
